Tainted Black Pepper Coating Blamed for Salami Salmonella Recall

Black pepper used to coat salami included this week in a huge recall of the food is likely to blame for a salmonella outbreak that has sickened nearly 200 people in 40 states, state health officials said.

This week, more than 1.2 million pounds of pepper-coated salami from Daniele International, Inc. of Rhode Island were ordered recalled after testing positive for salmonella, a form of bacteria linked to potentially fatal food poisoning in consumers.

The same strain of salmonella found in containers of pepper at the Daniele facility has sickened at least 189 people since July, health officials said.  So far, 37 people have been hospitalized in the food poisoning outbreak, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control statistics cited in an Associated Press report.

Rhode Island health officials said they are “pretty sure” that the tainted ground pepper used on the realled salami is to blame for the outbreak, but further testing is needed to confirm that strong suspicion, the AP said.

Salmonella infection causes mild to severe symptoms including diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps in most people within 12 to 72 hours of infection.  The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days.  While most healthy individuals develop only mild to moderate symptoms, the elderly and frail, young children, and those with compromised immune systems such as HIV and cancer patients are at high risk of developing severe illness from salmonella poisoning.

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